Tako of the island

Item — crate: R043838626, Reel: 5000027018381

Identifier: AMPS 2023/01. Series 1. Item 1/3

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the File:

Recording sessions at Nikaupara, Aitutaki were led by Tepaki Mokotupu, who introduced most of the items, and narrated legends with which the songs are associated. Verbatim translations of most of the legends were supplied after each recording session by Simona Naku in consultation with Tepaki. The accounts in English of Te Putanga o Te Toa (item 1/8) and the Story of Raeina and the battle of Vaovaoka (item 1/145), as related by Tepaki, were supplied in typescript by Tepaki but must have been prepared by someone else, most likely the Aitutaki Resident Agent, Jock McCauley, who had been Resident Agent also on Atiu, where he established an Atiu Historical Society with the object of gathering legends from local elders. English paraphrases of the stories from items 1/23-25 were prepared from verbatim translations made at the Archive of Maori and Pacific Music, Auckland, by Mamia Tunui during a training visit in 1976.

Performers in this session include: Turi Tama; Rave Pitomaki; Mrs Tini Terekainuku; Tepaki Mokotupu; Mrs Utivara Mokotupu; Pākuru Rima; No'ovai Pakūru; Māti Joseph; Tau Eitiare; Paiti Nuku; Mrs Mitua Hewitt; Usia Tarūia; Mrs Teei Usia Tarūia.

Dates

1967-09-01

Creator

From the File: Mokotupu, Tepaki (Speaker, Person)

To request or comment

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Biographical / Historical

This is the story of the tako about the island of Aitutaki, which the ai tupuna (ancestors) likened to a fish with its head to the north and its tail to the south.